#7167 Satan’s Fate and the Authority and Power of Jesus to Forgive Sin. What is our Fate if our sins are not blotted out by the Shed Blood of Christ.

Let’s be clear. What is Satan’s fate? And what is our hope for eternity, and what makes eternal life possible.

Mark 9:1 "And He said unto them, "Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power."

Most of the people in Jesus day, just like the people of today think of the time of the "kingdom of God" as the eternity, after Christ's return. Well, it is not. The "kingdom of God" came to assurance when Jesus Christ completed His mission, died on the cross and arose after the third day, right here on earth. That mission is stated in Hebrews 2:14; "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is. the devil; "

To understand that mission, we have to go back into the first earth age, prior to the time that our(men's) souls lived in flesh (animal) bodies. In Hebrews 2:14 Satan's name is "death", because Satan's soul has already been sentenced to death. Satan is going to die, and there is no chance of repentance, anymore for Him, for all hope was taken from Him in the first earth age. Ezekiel 28:12 tells us that our Heavenly Father created Satan [the king of Tyrus], and that he was one of God's sons. God made Satan (his name was Lucifer prior to his rebellion against God) the full pattern of beauty and wisdom, prior to that first earth age (when God created all of our souls).

Ezekiel 28:12 "Son of man [Ezekiel], take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus [Satan], and say unto him, 'Thus saith the Lord God; 'Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty."

Ezekiel 28:13 "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabreths and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created."

Satan was a created soul; created at the same time all of our souls, including you and me, were created before the first earth age See Job 38:1-7

Ezekiel 28:14 "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire."

Back in the thirteenth verse there are ten precious stones mentioned, and each of these stones are on the breastplate of the high priest. Before Lucifer's/Satan's fall, he sat in an extremely high position of responsibility. Satan was anointed by God to fill that high purpose, and it was no accident that Satan held that position. Satan was created and anointed to be our cherub.

The position of "cherub" is to protect the mercy seat of God. "Covereth" means to guard, in the Hebrew text. God is saying that "I set you there on mine own altar, and you walked before me." It is because of Lucifer's/Satan's vanity and pride that he turned against God, and this pride caused Satan his sentence of death. When Satan fell, he took one third of all the rest of us created souls with him. We/they chose to follow Satan, rather than worshiping and remaining loyal to God. It was because of this that God also allowed for His own Son, Jesus, to come through this earth age in a flesh and blood body, live the perfect life, and die a sacrificial death. God Himself, living as a flesh and blood man, through His son Jesus, would pay the price for those souls that sinned and fell, so that those of us that fall from God's grace can return to Him

Ezekiel 28:15 "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee."

Ezekiel 28:16 "By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou has sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire."

This is after the attempted over-throw of the world that then was, the first earth age. God told Satan that he was to be removed from the altar of God.

Ezekiel 28:17 "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee."

Satan was created a child of God, just as all other souls are God's children, however when God created Satan, He built within him the full pattern of beauty and wisdom. Satan is a child of God because all souls were created by the Father. Satan, however, went bad because of his pride in his great wisdom and beauty. Satan was elevated to the highest position in God's kingdom, to archangel and the protector of the arch itself. He was one of the covering cherubs that protected the very seat of God [the mercy seat].

In as much as God is always as fair to one of His children as to another, if a soul that followed Satan in that first earth age enters into this age of the flesh through conception, God has prepared a way for that soul to repent and be forgiven. God decreed that each soul (every one of us) is to enter this earth age in innocence, void of any remembrance of the first earth age, through the womb of a woman at conception. Then in this life as a flesh and blood human being, choose whether we will follow God or continue to follow Satan.

However many of us, even in this earth age, simply will not choose to do so because the truth of God's Word is withheld from us, we do not have eyes to see or ears to hear the truth of God's Word, and that is why there will also be a Millennium age, when Jesus Christ will return and set up His kingdom right here on earth. Then all souls will no longer be in their flesh and blood (terrestrial) bodies, but back into an incorruptible spirit (celestial) body, and will again have full knowledge of both earth ages. And during that thousand year period, eternal life can still be granted to us based on our works only during the Millennium. (not by faith anymore, as in this earth age, because Christ will be here with us the whole 1000 years)

Those of the elect, those who did not follow Satan in the first earth age, God uses for special assignments during this earth age. They, along with those of us who in this earth age repent of our sins, accepting Christ's offer of grace, will receive their/our rewards at the beginning of this Millennium age, which includes the "first resurrection to eternal life".

Satan had every opportunity to repent in the first earth age, that all souls have or will have in this earth age, but he refused. Because of Satan's refusal, God has placed the sentence of death on him, and this sentence will be carried out at the end of the Millennium, after the 'great white throne of judgment' by God the Father.

Ezekiel 28:18 "Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thy iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; there will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee."

Ezekiel 28:19  All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

  John's Note. That last phrase in verse 19 sure does rule out the eternal torment theory taught in most Christian churches of our land, doesn't it!
They get that from the verse in Revelation 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.  And on the surface that's what it sounds like, but read on!  

Revelation 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 

Now, This is at the end of the Millennium.

Revelation 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

When Satan has gathered all who will join him and they have compassed Jerusalem then it's lake of fire time for them. No need to even open up the book of works on these folks for they have totally and completely failed the final exam. They will not graduate into eternity. Bye!

[10] And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Here we come to the favorite verse of Dante, who gave us graphic descriptions, complete with illustrations, of an everlasting Burning Inferno, known as Dante's Inferno, where poor souls who didn't repent weep and wail and writhe in pain and agony and torment forever and ever while the saints sitting on the clouds with their harps look upon them and sing the refrain "Burn, suckers, burn, we told you so, we told you so"! Some concept of heaven, eh?

Well it ain't so! First of all, it is documented time after time after time in the Bible that the fate of the wicked is to PERISH, to die the second death, which is the DESTRUCTION OF THEIR SOUL! We've quoted John 3:16 many times as well as Christ's own words in Mat. 10. But let's read again His words:

Matthew 10:28
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

And how about Satan's soul? Did we just read that Satan will be tormented for ever and ever? No we did not, because we read an idiom of another language translated into our English which completely lost the meaning. It would be like translating the English expression "She got cold feet", meaning "She lost her nerve" to do something, into French. But in the French language there is no such expression and so the best the readers of the expression can determine is that the actual temperature of her feet much approach that of ice!

The root of the word "torment" in verse 10 is the Greek word basanos from where we get our word "basis", and it means (through the notion of going to the bottom). But the whole expression together simply means that Satan will be consumed, debased, gone, day and night (for all eternity), forever and ever (to be no more).

For further documentation, let's look at a second witness, another account of Satan's ultimate fate, found in the 28th chapter of Ezekiel. Here's how he DIES! He perishes by fire!

Ezekiel 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

Always remember from the last verse in Hebrews chapter 12 that our Father is a consuming fire. He will destroy Satan and turn him into ashes forever and ever.

Does that mean he'll burn for ever and ever? Of course not.

[19] All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

Satan will BE NO MORE! You just read it! His very name in Greek is "Apollyon" which means PERISH. That is why he is called the "Son of Perdition", i.e. the son who will perish!

The same fate that awaits all of us who don't have part in the first nor the second resurrections.

Do you realize that Satan has succeeded in taking a few mistranslated verses and created an almost universally accepted Christian doctrine so heinous that it even defies the nature of human love. We have laws in human society against torturing both animals and people. Even a parent of a child who became a despicable evil murderer could not imagine nor accept and would certainly never decree that the child be heinously singed with fire, poked with hot coals, and roasted in an oven. What parent, brother or sister could look upon one of their own being treated as such? They could perhaps accept the humane execution of the child, to put him or her out their torment for ever and ever, for the protection and good of society. And guess what?  God says in Jer. 32:35 that He never ever thought of torturing children in fire! Such is the doctrine of Molech! NEVER EVER! And yet today it is a doctrine in most Christian churches. But it is a tradition of men like Dante and not of God's Word!

And as it is written, Death is exactly the punishment God decrees for the murderer in the flesh body. It is also written, Death is exactly the punishment God decrees for the wicked in the spirit body. And just as we don't have to put up with the evil (flesh) person anymore on earth when they are executed (the first death), so we will not have to put up with the wicked anymore for all eternity when they are executed (the second death).

Rev. 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

This is the last day of this earth age and the full God head comes to earth. We'll read of it in detail in the next chapter. And this verse should remind us of that which we read in Rev. 6:14 "And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." It is the end of this present heaven and earth age,i.e. this 2nd heaven and earth age, and the beginning of the 3rd which is for all eternity.

[12] And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Do dead people stand? This is not talking about resurrection, this is the coming before the Judge! Stand up and approach the bench please!

Remember where we are? We are at the end of the Millennium. There are no people still in flesh bodies nor are there any souls in the ground. The "dead" referred to here are the spiritually dead who are about to be judged from the books and receive their rewards according to their actions! And their last actions recorded in the books just before the Millennium were to worship the beast and his image! God will pick it up from there.

And so it is more than obvious that these books that are opened are the Books of Works, during the Millennium. You see, Almighty God keeps perfect records of all His children's activities?  Thank God for this dispensation of grace and for repentance whereby we can have our "activities", our sins, deleted from the books. Also, remember that those of the first resurrection are not subject to the judgment of the second resurrection and/or the second death. We read that in verse 6.

Satan rejected all offers that God gave him, and because of his fall in the first earth age, Satan was sentenced to die back in the first earth age. That is why he and only Satan is called the "son of perdition". This is also why Satan is called "death" by Paul, here in Hebrews. Though Satan was sentenced to die in the first earth age, God will use Him for the negative part of His eternal plan, and in the perfecting of His saints even in this age of the flesh, and also at the end of the Millennium age that will be upon us shortly. 

Hebrews 2:15 "And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

God will release us and make us free and we can already participate in that freedom now when we repent, love and trust Him. When we learn of His truth and trust in His Word we can expect many blessings. We become heirs to the promise that God gave to those that would repent and believe on His/Jesus name, but you must individually claim what is rightfully yours. Those blessings are yours for recognizing that you are His child, in as much as God owns all things and we become heirs to them.

Hebrews 2:16 "For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on him the seed of Abraham."

Jesus came to this earth to be born in the flesh, to show you that even in the flesh, you can overcome. Jesus came to be crucified, so that in His crucifixion he could destroy all death, that is to say, the devil.

So the moment that Jesus Christ came out of that tomb, and defeated death, the kingdom of God came into being right here on earth. So this first verse is telling us that those that would be there, would see Him after His resurrection.

Jesus would teach them standing there, until the fortieth day after the resurrection, then He would be taken into heaven. That same kingdom is very much in power even today in all believers, even though Satan is the prince of darkness of this earth age. During this age of the flesh, Once you believe on Jesus and repent of your sins in Jesus name, you step from the kingdom of darkness of Satan, into the kingdom of light, to the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

  John's Note: I'm confused. I believe I need to do some more research! Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh! I see it! Paul is talking about our flesh and blood body, The author above is talking about our soul, exclusive of this body we now have.

Mark 9:2 "And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and He was transfigured before them."

"Transfigured" means that Jesus flesh (terrestrial) body was changed by divine intervention into his spiritual (celestial) body, but left in a dimension that Peter, James and John could see and witness. So why would Jesus say, "after six days", of what purpose is the six days? Peter gave us the clue in II Peter 3:8; "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

At the end of the sixth day, in the eyes of God, the Millennium shall begin. The Millennium age is known as the seventh day, the day of rest, when all souls will no longer be in flesh bodies. At that time we will all be transformed from these flesh corruptible bodies, into our incorruptible bodies, that same spiritual celestial body. The flesh will be put off, and changed, transformed into transfigured bodies. Remember I Corinthians 15:52?

I Corinthians 15:51 "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,"

"Sleep" as stated here comes from the Greek prime #2837 in Strong's Greek dictionary. "Koimao, to put to sleep, to decease, to be dead." This is not talking about sleeping to gain rest, but when the soul leaves this flesh body, and the flesh body returns to dust at death. Paul is saying that a time is coming when all people on the face of this earth will not die, but be changed into their incorruptible bodies that shall not age (although for many, their souls will still be mortal, throughout the Millennium). This form of body is the same as Peter, James and John saw on that mount of transfiguration, when they viewed Jesus body change, while in the presence of Moses and Elijah.

I Corinthians 15:52 "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall souund, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

At the sounding of the seventh and last trumpet the people living in their flesh bodies here on this earth are not going anywhere. They will all stay right here on earth, and heaven will be sealed for the next thousand years. However, all flesh will be gone, and all souls, good and bad will be in their incorruptible, spiritual bodies, just as Peter, James and John witnessed here in Mark 9:2. Christ is allowing these three men to witness exactly what He was speaking of in verse one. When they had seen the transfiguration, they had come real close to witnessing not only what takes place at His resurrection, but what will take place at the close of this age of the flesh when the seventh trumpet sounds.

This demonstrated why Christ's flesh body would not be left on this earth, whereby mankind could say or think that Jesus did not come out of the tomb alive. If Jesus' physical body was left behind, men would reject the resurrection, and point to that dead carcass as proof that He did not come out of the tomb. Jesus did not need to take away the flesh body to defeat death, because that is how it is with all of the dead (those who die the first death, the death of their flesh). Their bodies go back to the dust of the earth, but their soul returns to the Father that gave it at conception.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 "Then shall the dust [flesh body] return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God Who gave it."

To be absent from this flesh body is to be present with the Lord, but this was done for the sake of those that would have doubts. Christ was transformed and His flesh transfigured too ascending back to the Father, so naturally they could not find Christ's body after the resurrection..

Today there is a lie that is being spread that Christ's body was taken away by His disciples, however upon Jesus resurrection, His body was visible seen by hundreds of people over the forty day period prior to His ascension into heaven.

Matthew 27:51 "And, behold , the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;"

Matthew 27:52 "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,"

Not only was Christ transfigured on that third day, but also many other souls who had died the death of their flesh, who the people living there on that day had known and lived with, were visible transfigured and walking the streets of Jerusalem.

Matthew 27:53 "And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city [Jerusalem], and appeared unto many."

These souls seemingly came out of the grave at the time of the resurrection, however, their souls were already with the Father. God gave this visual aid to those present, of bodies coming out of the grave to prove one point. That point is, that Christ could conquer and defeat death. That should give you a real good feeling even today, for when Christ paid the price for all souls that would repent in Jesus name and believe on Him. That price was for all mankind going way back to Noah, and to our present generation. So the transfiguration documents that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; And therefore, has the authority and power to forgive sin.